


Better Together

by layna_lass



Series: Bughead Missing Moments [3]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Blue & Gold, Canon, Co-workers, F/M, friends - Freeform, missing moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 06:14:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/layna_lass/pseuds/layna_lass
Summary: ❝ it's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving ❞In which Betty discovers that she and Jughead make a good team





	Better Together

It's only been a day since they reopened the _Blue & Gold_, but already, the newspaper's office is starting to feel like a sanctuary for Betty. As soon as the musty scent of old paper and ink hits her, she can feel tension draining out of her. 

Jughead's sitting at his desk, fingers clacking away at his keys in a sound that shouldn't be familiar yet but is anyways. When Betty exhales a tired breath, he asks, without looking up from his screen, "Bad day?"

Betty nods, leaning against her own desk. "You could say that." 

"Well, I might have a lead for you, if that helps." He turns his chair around, slouching back against it with one elbow propped on the armrest. "I'm pretty sure Dilton Doiley is hiding something."

She frowns. "You talked to him already? When?"

"This afternoon. He and his Scouts were off school for the day, some sort of training exercise. I wanted to get him in his natural environment." Jug's fingers tap against his jeans. "He didn't say anything we haven't already heard, but he definitely didn't like being asked about it, and one of his Scouts was watching us like he knew something. I'm going to go talk to him later, but I figured I should write down what happened while it's still fresh." He brings one of his knees up, moves his elbow to rest on that instead. He doesn't seem to like sitting still. "What do you think?"

"I think you shouldn't be skipping school, Juggie," she says with a pointed look.

That seems to amuse him. "Relax. I'm ahead in most of my classes anyways. If there's anything I missed, which I doubt, I'll just catch up on it later." He raises his eyebrows. "So, what do you think?"

She thinks she has a headache, and she's tired and preoccupied, and she feels bad because he's putting more effort into this than she is at the moment and he didn't even want to do it in the first place. "Um..." She rubs her forehead. "It sounds like a solid lead."

He scoffs. "I knew that. I was talking about what I should ask him."

"Oh." She tries to collect her thoughts, analyze the information. Nothing comes.

Jughead crosses his arms, waiting.

She sighs, giving up and scrubbing her hands over her face in frustration. "I'm sorry, I know I'm being a horrible editor, it's just... my head's kind of all over the place right now."

She's useless, but he doesn't seem too irritated. "Is this about Veronica and Chuck?" he asks.

She blinks. "You know about that?"

He smirks. "Just because I'm a social pariah doesn't mean I live under a rock. Natural observer, remember?"

He's referencing the night at the diner. At the time, they'd been talking about Archie. Betty finds herself wondering what other things he notices. More than he lets on, apparently.

When she doesn't say anything, he leans forward, rolling his chair closer to her. "That was pretty hardcore, storming into the men's locker room to tell off Chuck Clayton and his knuckle-dragging cro magnons."

She groans. "It was _humiliating_."

He tilts his head. "Why?"

"Because we're powerless, and he knows it." She stands up, running her hands over her jeans as the anger starts to pool inside her again, hot and ugly. Her skin is getting warm, so she pulls off the sweater she's layered over her shirt and throws it on her desk. "No one is going to take Veronica's side over Chuck's. No one cares about Chuck and what he did. It's all about how Veronica's a slut, which isn't even true because nothing happened." She's pacing now, with her nails curling into her palm, ignoring the sting as they connect with still-healing skin. "I'm just sick to death of everyone ignoring the truth because it's not-- _convenient_ for them. This whole town is so wrapped up in pretending, we bury all our problems instead of actually facing them. Which isn't going to do anything for anyone."

She realizes she's in danger of breaking the cuts back open and forces herself to relax her hands before she starts bleeding. The last thing she needs is for Jughead to find out about that. Not that he'd tell people, but... she doesn't want anyone to know.

Maybe she's just as bad as everyone else. 

She sighs, weary of this. "I don't want to let them get away with it. I want people to know the truth, so we can hold Chuck accountable."

"So talk about it," Jughead says.

She pauses. "What?"

"Talk about it," he repeats. "You don't want people to ignore the problem anymore? Don't let them. Make them acknowledge it." Gesturing around them, he adds, "You do run a newspaper now," in a  _duh_ tone of voice. 

Her eyes go wide. "Of course! We can write an article on what's going on."

"An expose, if you will." Jug points at her. "You'll need evidence."

"Testimonies," she agrees, and that takes some of the air out of her balloon. "Who's going to speak out against Chuck Clayton? Veronica will, obviously, but we'll need more than that."

"If no one's talking about it now," Jughead starts, and she gets it right away.

"Then it's possible it's happened before, and we just don't know about it." She beams at him. "Jug, you're brilliant."

He smiles, and even though he doesn't voice it out loud, the smile says  _I know, but thanks for noticing._

"I'll ask around, find some girls to go on record--" She's already writing the opening lines of her article in her head, even as she rummages in her drawer for a clipboard and pen. "We'll burn Chuck and his posse so bad, they won't know what hit them."

Jughead salutes her with his pencil, saying, "Fare thee well, Hitchcock blonde," and turning back to his computer.

"Don't the blondes always get murdered?" she reminds him, pulling out her phone to text Veronica.

"I was thinking more Grace Kelly,  _To Catch a Thief_ ," he muses. 

Betty looks up from her phone, surprised. It seems like a pretty big compliment, and she didn't think he thought that well of her. The fact that he says this after an emotional breakdown and ranting spree.... 

"Jug?"

"What?" He looks at her over his screen.

"When you grill the Scout, ask him if there were any times that day when they didn't know where Dilton was." She doesn't know what he's hiding, but whatever it is, there's a chance the Scout leader was involved in Jason's murder. It isn't too far-fetched of an idea; he's always been a little unhinged.

"Right." Jughead's forehead creases in the middle, an expression of focus. He really takes this seriously. She's grateful for that.

Betty smiles. "And thank you. For your help."

The furrow in his brow disappears for a moment, and he grins back at her. "What else are partners in questionably legal amateur murder investigations for?"

She leaves the office with a different type of fire in her than the rage and desperation she'd come with. Now, she's thrumming with determination. She has a plan. She has a way to fight back. And, she's got a partner now. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! In case you're wondering about timing, this fic happens in 1x04, after they confront Chuck but before they find out about Ethel and the others. I'll be continuing this series with other little Bughead moments, so if y'all have any ideas, leave a comment ;) Songspiration for this is "Better Together" by Jack Johnson.


End file.
